Now that Sundance is done and over with, I’ve gotten back to my normal flow of films in a given weekend. I will say, I did have trouble landing on stuff I wanted to watch; felt a little aimless. There are still a couple nominees I need to get in before voting starts on the Independent Spirit Awards, but I gave myself a weekend off from all things new and awards related.
S#!%house – Title aside, this comedy-drama by the same dude who brought us Cha Cha Real Smooth at Sundance this past week, also manages to shine in his directorial debut. Raiff plays Alex, a college freshman who seems to be pretty consistently longing for home. I enjoyed the little scenes where he communicates via subtitles with his stuffed animal. His roommate is kind of a mess, but on the surface he means well, which is how Alex gets invited to a party at the titular S#!%house. While there he strikes up a bond with his dorm’s RA, Maggie, and the two spend a copious amount of time together afterwards. With that being said, Maggie’s attitude flips around so fast that Alex can’t always follow what’s going on or if he managed to screw something up. This relationship, while certainly different than the one played out in Cha Cha Real Smooth, does have its similarities. On the surface, you don’t necessarily think the pair belong together, but they actually compliment each other quite nicely. Anyways, with all of that, I hope Raiff keeps making films as quickly as he made these last two.
Clerks – While I’m still not totally sure how Kevin Smith’s film universe works, I do know that this is the first film from it. Given that it came out when I was three, I can’t say I’m too surprised that it took me this long to watch it. In fact, it’s been sitting on my DVR for well over a year at this point. Part of me chose to watch it expecting an outright comedy, but I was surprised when most of the dialogue came across as somewhat profound. Dante gets called in on his day off to run the Quick Stop where he gets an interesting slew of customers all day. A short time later, his buddy Randal shows up to run the video store next door. In between customers, the two entertain themselves, while also trying to work through Dante’s love life dilemma. This might not be the best thing I’ve ever seen, but I liked the conversations in this film and it’s definitely got me intrigued to check out the rest of Smith’s universe.
4th Man Out – I know I’ve written about this film numerous times, but at this point it’s a feel good movie for me. So that means at 10pm on Sunday night, I’m going pull this sucker up! Especially given how aimless I felt picking movies all weekend. In this, Adam reveals to his closest friends on his 24th birthday that he is gay. Most of the rest of the film is spent with them trying to make it seem as if nothing is different between them and even try to find Adam a boyfriend. Some slightly awkward conflict ensues, but friendship wins in the end and that makes me happy.